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Not guilty finding humiliates India

Derek Pringle, London

James Anderson and Ravindra Jadeja have both been found not guilty of charges laid against them, a finding that represents clear humiliation for India and their captain M.S. Dhoni, who initiated proceedings after a spat between the two at Trent Bridge.

The judicial hearing was by video conference to Gordon Lewis, a retired Australian judge who was in Melbourne. It began at 9am on Friday in Southampton's Grand Harbour Hotel and lasted six hours before Lewis took just minutes to form judgment. It is a chastening verdict for cricket's leading power, which had already thrown its weight around by appealing against Jadeja's fine under level one, an offence that has no redress under International Cricket Council protocols.

India's players have long thought Anderson's boorish sledging to be unacceptable and their admission probably weakened their case, which smacked of opportunism to get him for past misdemeanours.

Indian all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja. Photo: AFP

Dhoni's persistence with the charge, after the two boards had instructed the players to sort it out, made it look like a personal crusade for which Duncan Fletcher, India's coach, in a rare misjudgment, backed him.

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You cannot hope to get a player banned (the intended outcome once India had lodged a level-three complaint) for being annoying, that is a separate matter, and with no independent witnesses and no video evidence for the alleged spat in the Trent Bridge pavilion (which India claimed to have) Lewis found there was no case to answer.

Reaction from India's camp has been muted with a senior Board of Control for Cricket in India official saying they were delighted that Jadeja's fine, handed to him by David Boon, the match referee, had been quashed. As for Anderson's reprieve, the official admitted there was nothing the BCCI could do, save to see if Dave Richardson, the ICC's chief executive, felt an injustice had occurred. Only then could the verdict be appealed against and then only by the ICC. The cost, with both sides hiring lawyers, are thought to be about £50,000 ($90,300) for the England and Wales Cricket Board and £200,000 for the BCCI, the latter having employed them to initiate the charges, fight Jadeja's case, then appeal against it.

Anderson was said to be euphoric afterwards. Earlier this season, when Lancashire played a championship match against Northamptonshire, he had Kyle Coetzer out leg before wicket but gave the batsman an unnecessarily aggressive send-off, which some onlookers felt included a clash of shoulders after Anderson's protracted appeal had taken him down the pitch.

Neither umpire felt the incident worthy of reporting, which weakened India's case against him at Trent Bridge. .

As a renowned sledger, Anderson may have been fortunate that a former Australian judge heard his case, Australia being the home of the unwitty practice. ''Jimmy plays it hard on the pitch, I think that is what international sport is,'' said coach Peter Moores before the verdict. ''Players putting everything on the line when they play is what people come to watch.''

Anderson can now celebrate his innocence and England's third Test win properly. He and the six other witnesses called in his defence were told to stay off the beers after the match to keep a clear head. With lawyers present, he and his material witnesses, Stuart Broad, Matt Prior, Ben Stokes along with team manager, Phil Neale, assistant coach Paul Farbrace and Chris Taylor, the fielding coach, all had to be pin-sharp, hence the ban on booze after England's win at the Ageas Bowl.

With most of the Indian team leaving for Manchester, only Dhoni, Jadeja, Fletcher, Ravichandran Ashwin and Gautam Gambhir stayed on, along with India's physio Evan Speechly (another witness).

England has always maintained Anderson's innocence in the face of India's claims that he instigated a confrontation with Jadeja at Trent Bridge, which ended with the bowler allegedly shoving Jadeja aside.

Although they never believed he would be banned, they will be delighted to have him available for the last two Tests.

It certainly makes Alastair Cook's team favourites to win the series, given how well Anderson bowled in the last Test. England would have struggled to replace him. Playing the final two Tests also gives him the opportunity to overhaul Ian Botham's England record for the number of Test wickets. Botham has 383 and Anderson needs 12 more to beat him.